Dunkin Donuts to open Monday in Kalamazoo; franchise owner has plans for Grand Rapids and Lansing

Katie Selden / GazetteThe sit-down area of the Dunkin Donuts restaurant on South Westnedge Avenue at Whites Road will be opened from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., starting Monday (July 2). It's drive-thru will be open 24 hours a day.

KALAMAZOO, MI – Donut and coffee fans will have a few more days to wait until the official opening of the Dunkin Donuts restaurant on South Westnedge Avenue at Whites Road.

Portage-based Sack of Donuts LLC originally targeted June 26 as the opening date. But the business, which has franchise rights for Dunkin Donuts in southwest Michigan and northern Indiana, has pushed the opening date back to Monday (July 2).

Dunkin Donuts will operate in a just-completed 2,000-square-foot building at 3102 S. Westnedge Ave., in the Kalamazoo Crossings retail center where Michael Knapick, general manager of Sack of Donuts LLC and his brother Andy have owned and operated a Jimmy John’s restaurant for about four years.

“We’re going to open probably 25 in Michigan,” Michael Knapick said. “There will be three to four in the Kalamazoo area, three to four in the South Bend (Ind.) area and then we’ll head up to the Lansing and Grand Rapids areas.”

He said many of the Dunkin Donuts location will be combinations with Baskin Robbins

Ice Cream locations. The franchises are both part of the Dunkin' Brands Group Inc. family of companies. He offered no timetable for locating additional sites in Michigan or here, saying he has not settled on a location on Kalamazoo’s West Side or elsewhere in the Kalamazoo area.

He and his brother have owned Jimmy John’s restaurants in northern Indiana for about 10 years. They Dunkin Donuts here will be their first in Michigan. Ownership includes the Knapick brothers and some partners.

The restaurant will have about 35 full- and part-time employees. It will seat about 30 people and the sit-down area of the restaurant will be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. It’s drive-thru will be open 24 hours a day.

Its target customers are “anybody who is up in the morning and anybody who wants lunch,” he said.